Posted - 06/02/2013 : 8:55:43 PM I was telling a friend about seam stitches the other day, and remembered when I knitted seam stitches for the first time about 1.5 years ago that I wanted to post about it here, and never did. High time.

Mainly, I'd read about seam stitches in patterns but didn't know why anyone needed to bother. I scoured the books I have here, and couldn't find the "why." Even my beloved "Knitting in the Old Way" talked about them, but didn't say a thing about why. (I'm one of those people who wants to know why we should never use a jewelry cloth on turquoise stones. I've never tried that, but I do want to know what happens without making it happen. If anyone knows, do tell me.)

Then in December 2011, "Piecework" arrived with a knitting challenge to interpret a sock pattern from the mid-1800s, and I bit. It had a seam-stitch column in it, and I had to follow the pattern, so...now I understand what they do, because I'd left them out before.

A seam stitch column is great when there are mirrored decreases a couple stitches apart, as was the case on the old sock pattern, and on sweater sleeves. So here is your homework (it won't take long, and you LIKE to knit, yes?): knit two swatches.

The first is without seam stitches: CO 20 sts, knit stockinette for 4 rows, then on a RS row: k7, k2tog, k2, ssk, k the rest of the row, then k 5 more rows. Repeat the decreases on either side of the center two stitches every 6th row until you run out of sts to decrease, then BO.

Now knit another swatch with the seam st column down the middle. This time CO >21< sts.Row 1: k 10, p, k 10.Row 2: purl the ks and k the lone purl.Rows 3-4: repeat rows 1-2.Row 5 (RS): k7, k2tog, k, p, k, ssk, k the rest of the row.Knit the next 5 rows in patt, decreasing on either side of the center 3 sts every 6th row until you run out of dec sts, then BO.

Now look at both samples with the RS facing. Can you see why seam stitches are so good?! Knit both swatches and tell us the results right here. It's good to have a record of this for your knitting bag of tricks, and I invite you to try it!

Ceil(Ravelry: ceilr)Time is never a factor when joy is involved.

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yarnlover

Posted - 06/04/2013 : 6:42:19 PM I'm interested in trying this too as I really like to learn new techniques and to understand the why's of why a technique is best for a specific project.

Don't know when I might get to it, but will try in the next week and report back. Very interesting to me as I haven't ever heard the term seam stitch before this.